


A headless game

by Pancakes1317



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Horror, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, M/M, Monsters, Multi, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 20:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17087288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pancakes1317/pseuds/Pancakes1317
Summary: Alec had always been plagued with visions of the horrors that go bump in the night. This and his somewhat unusual appearance had always made him a bit of an outcast in his hometown of Aconite. After years of ridicule he had learned to ignore these things that torment him, but when he has a horrifying encounter with a headless man, riding a stead of shadows, he no longer has that option. Now he  must help solve the mysteries string of murders while also trying to find his missing father and learning more about his strange abilities to see things of the other world.  Follow him on his journey of horrors, mystery and maybe even a budding romance, as he tries to unweave the dangerous web he's been caught in since birth.





	A headless game

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever original story! Feel free to give me some constructive criticism or anything in the comments. I had a few bata readers over on the wighting village amino help me with this, so a big thanks to those guys. Check out my tumblr, or amino for art and updates if you want to see more of this. Don’t forget to leave a kudo if you like what you see, I thrive with attention so. With out further adue, enjoy.

"Once there was a prince. His beauty was unrivalled and his heart was kind and just. They say that all who laid eyes on him were left in an immediate sense of awe, with his face like sculpted bronze and hair like fire. His eyes were like the sturdy trunk of an oak and his height could rival a pine's.

He ruled his people justly and was held in high regard among them. Unlike many other nobles and royals of the time, that preferred to rule in a Machiavellian way, he was always truthful and kind.  He was there light in the darkness of the time; he promoted education to all, equality among the classes and while other rulers hauled up in their castles during times of famine, he opened his doors to his people, offering food and shelter for those who needed it.

His kingdom was diverse, people from every corner of the world calling it home, it's said that even the fae lived within the walls of his kingdom. But even in the light, there's always a shadow lurking around.

The prince was always very particular about his name, being that he never shared it. No one ever truly knew why he kept his name a secret, only that he did. One night an old woman shrouded in a cloak of shadows, appeared knocking on the prince's door, request shelter for the night. Not wanting to offend her and wishing to obey the laws of hospitality, he granted her wish, giving her lodging for the night and even inviting her to dine with him. He often ate alone and said he would enjoy the company.

At diner they spoke of many things. The prince had found that the woman was very well versed in the ways of the world and he enjoyed her opinions on it. They soon ran out of topics from far away and began to speak personally, the prince having become rather comfortable in her presence and a bit tipsy from one too many glasses of wine. But the woman wasn't there for the food and conversation, she had a nefarious plan laid out.

The prince had let his guard down, had enjoyed too many glasses of wine and the woman took advantage of his foolish decisions. She tricked him into give away his name, the prince was too inebriated to even realize his own mistakes. That night when he slept, the woman fled.  
With a strand of his hair she had plucked from his chair and his name at hand she played out her plan. She cursed his kingdom and all that lived within.

The fields had become barren, all life within it seem to shrivel up overnight. The lakes that once held enough fish to feed an entire nation were the same. The food storages soon ran dry and Famine had ravished the kingdom, and with it came illness. The people had started to revolt, rumors that the royal family was stuffing their faces with food while their people starve, had spread like wildfire. Neighbors had turned against each other and bodies began to line the streets. It wasn't before long that the mobs had knock down the doors and stormed the castle. Even the nobility of the area joined in. They soon found the royal family, hauled up deep within the castle library and—"

"Are you tell those horrid fantasies of your again Alex?" A deep voice rumbled and Alec turn around to face it. He floundered for a moment, his tall and lanky figure awkward in the presence of the shorter-by-comparison man in front of him.

"Ah, yes, sorry sir. The children said they were bored just sitting around here waiting out the rain and I thought I might..."

"Yes, yes that's quite enough of that then. The rain has stopped and you can all leave now," an audible groan resonated from the children that sat on the floor by their feet, "run along, you children shouldn't be out this late anyway, it's nearly sun down" he finished as the children began to stand and filed through the door.

Once the last one was gone, Alec turned back to the man before him. "Honestly, filling those innocent children's head with your nonsense, disgraceful. They don't need their heads to be filled with your tails of monsters and myths. I thought you had gotten over this when that caretaker of yours had abandoned you."

He felt his heart twist at that, but he could do nothing. He could only shifted his weight from leg to leg and fidgeted with his sleeve as he was scolded. Oh, how he dreaded this man, not a kind word to say to anyone.  
"Next thing I know, you'll be spewing that garbage about see ghosts again like you did when you were a child, with those ungodly eyes of yours"

"I understand sir, it won't happen again" he mumbled through gritted teeth. With a pat on the shoulder that required more effort from the man then it should have, due to Alec's height, the man stared into his eyes— or at least where he assumed his eyes would have been, Alec knew it was hard to tell with his tinted glasses— harshly and frowned.

"Don't let it happen again."

He shivered as he remembered the days he had disobeyed this man before. Memories he would much rather forget. "Those children shouldn't even be in here, they might damage one of those useless relics laying around here, you and I both know none of their ninny parents couldn't afford to even glance in here,"

"Well that's not...entirely true, the artifacts are—"he froze mid-sentence at the piercing look that fell upon him again. The man's gaze was like ice and the constant presence of a frown and his drawn in brows already made it hard to tell when he was truly angry. Alec had concluded that he always was.

"I'll be leaving for a few days, tomorrow" he said abruptly "I'll be leaving you to care for the shop in my absence. I want you to finish filing those papers tonight and leave them for me in the morning. You are not to leave until its finished," Alec paled at the thought, he would have to stay well past sun down and most likely work until midnight to finish the job.

He knew if he failed, his job would be thrown on a hook and he would lose the only person willing to employ him in the whole town. Sucking up what little pride and self esteem he had he gave a fake grin of confidence and a timid nod. With a judging glance the man pushed out the door and Alec sighed as he turned to walk back to his overcrowded desk.

When he sat, the old bench creaked and he winced at the sound. If it were up to him, he would get a sturdier chair and a desk that was bigger than just an old school desk, or at least a bit more accommodating than the one he currently used. He was honestly surprised that neither had given out on him yet, but he had no time to mope about his cheapskate of an employer and soon got to work.

Suddenly he heard a creak from the front door and watched as one of the school children slipped in. He recognized her as marry, one if the brightest children that visited him on a regular basis. She glanced around cautiously before walking over to his desk and looking up at him as she brushed a few dark strands that curled in form her olive colored face.

"What wrong Mary?" He asked and she lifted her tiny hands and pointed to the spot they had been seated at, then taped together her index and middle fingers on both hands to make an x.

"Name?" He asked and she nodded

"Oh, you want to know the name of the prince from the story," another nod "well, let's see..." he though back to his inspiration for the story. A dream he had had since he was a young boy. The prince from the story seemed to always be in his dreams and he knew he had a name. He could swear he had dreamt it before, but what was it?

"Arawn." As soon as the name left his mouth a chill washed over the room. That was the name always said in his dreams, but he had never actually spoken it aloud before. Despite the chill, Mary smiled up at him and he felt warm again. "Maybe you should head home, it's starting to get cold. Wouldn't want you to get sick, now would we?"

With a resined huff, she nodded her head full of curls and skipped towards the door, offering a small wave as she departed. He watched through the window until he could no longer see her and settled back down into his desk. Something felt off, but he didn't know what.

Once the sun set and he was truly alone, he slid his tinted glasses down and off his proud nose and blinked to adjusted his vision to the bright candle light that now adorned the room as he stuck one end of the pair down his shirt. His appearance often caused trouble for him in his younger years. One of his eyes was pure white, no iris or pupil, although he could see just fine with it. In fact, he could see more with that eye than most humans could ever imagine.  

His other eye was bottle green, some said it glowed even, although that was preposterous and something kids in the school yard would use to tease him. Both had caused him lots of trouble when he was little, especially when he told people of the things he saw lurking In the shadows, everything from ghost to strange black masses that seemed to lurk around the sick and elderly. It didn't take him too long to learn to hide his abilities and he began to wear darkly tinted glasses every were he went to hide his "ungodly" eyes.

The only people to have ever believed him were his adoptive father and sister. His father was a very worldly man, he told them stories of his home land—a place far, far away in the distant content of Asia– and of his many adventures that lead him to where he was. He told them of the many treasures he had found in his youth that allowed them to live in a mansion of a house, but he always said that his greatest treasures were Alec and his sister.

His sister was his best and only friend growing up. She was a rough and tough girl, never taking shit from anyone, sometimes the first to through a punch, but always the last. she never really did enjoy socializing with the towns people. Always claiming that she couldn't speak to one of them for more than ten minutes without wanting to punch something. 

When he confided in her that he had grown to fancy some of the boys in town rather than the girls she merely playfully punched him in the shoulder and said "You have horrible taste really, I'll never understand what you see in any of those men, their all so boring and plain looking, like potatoes. The ladies are by far, much cuter," she had told him with a wink "although personality wise they might as well just be gossipy bricks,".

But both she and their father had left town years ago and now he was alone.

His father had left a note to him, giving him the deed to the house and the message 'not all is as it appears, find the man with a head of flames' scrawled in his native language along with strange symbols he had never seen before written on the back. His sister left soon after looking for answer and hasn't returned since. She does send a post card every once in a while, from various locations.

That all happened five years ago and since then he's had to all but enslave himself to a man that pays him just enough to scrape by in exchange for being at his beck and call twenty-four-seven. Often it landed him right where he was now, working in a cold, dimly lit room, long into the night.

Hours had gone by in a snap and he was almost done with his work when the sound of heavy hooves beating against the ground caught his attention. He looked up at the clock across from his desk and cocked an eyebrow, it was nearly midnight, what business could this person have at this hour? 

Out of curiosity he slipped off his chair and walked to a window. He could still hear the sound of the hooves on the path but couldn't see anyone. But soon his own horse, that stood secure in a makeshift stable by the window, began to neigh and toss its head. He could see the old boards used to make the door of the stable, begin to bow in and the old rope that acted as a latch pulled taunt.

Fearing that his only way home might escape he rush out into the cold night to make sure his horse stayed secure. As soon as he stepped a foot out the door the noise stopped and he noticed the thick fog that had begun to roll in from the forest. Chills ran up his spine but He chose to ignore this as he ran to his horse. She had calmed some by his presence but he could tell she was still nervous and jittery.

He stroked her sides as he whispered her name and words of encouragement in an attempt to sooth the creature. But his efforts were in vain as her eyes widened in fear and he caught the glint of blue light reflecting in them. He turned to where the forest line once was but all he could see was a wall of fog and a bright glowing blue light behind it.

Then a figure trotted out of it, it had a blue flame in place of a head and held a whip that look as if it were made from a spine in one hand and a carved pumpkin with a hellish grin in the other. Its stead was massive and black as night, except for its face that was white as bone with gleaming ruby eyes. It seemed to look towards him and freeze before it dismounted and slowly started to stalk over to him. He felt his heart rate skyrocket out of fear and in a split-second decision, he untied Hana from the stable and hopped on her back, urging her to run the second he made contact.

His actions seemed to stun the creature for a moment as he could hear no movement from behind him for a good five minutes. He knew he couldn't let Hana slow for even a second though. Just when he thought he might have put enough distance between him and the creature, he heard those deafening hooves clapping on the path behind him.

With a girlish scream he urged Hana to run even faster, cutting through the thick fog like a knife. Low branches scratched and grabbed onto him, ripping the sleeves of his shirt, but Hana never slowed, she could tell that whatever was behind them was not something she would want to meet. He would have to make sure to give her a nice treat when they get home— if they survive, that is. He closed his eyes in fear as he saw the blue light growing dangerously close— he swore he could even see the top of its whip— and though about how nice it would be to be by the warm, bright fireplace in his personal library, curled up with his favorite book. He might never get to finish it now.

But suddenly something ahead caught his eye. A lantern on a post, sure enough, he was almost out of the forest and he knew that post that sat by the stream that encircled his property. He can still fondly recall the days he and his sister used to play by it. He thanked whatever god's above that decided to show him mercy, but still wondered how a light that he, nor anyone else for that matter, had lit in years was now suddenly ablaze.

He quickly steered Hana towards the stream and as she leapt over it, he realized that the fog had begun to dissipate and now he could see his house just up ahead, clear as day. Once he was almost to the house he slowed Hana and looked back to the creak. The creature stood there but didn't dare try to cross the small steam. It merely watched him— or rather he assumed that what it was doing, without a head it was hard to tell.  

He recalled back to the old hard back copy of the legends of the dullahan and other Celtic myths that sat on his book shelf and remembered a part that told about a weakness of the legend. They can't cross running water or covered bridges. He let out a tight breath that had been held in his chest for far too long and felt a little safer at this. 

After he had put Hana up in her stable for the night, he grabbed one of the many gardening tool that laid unused in the back of the stable and cautiously crept to the back of his property. He ducked behind an old apple tree that sat behind his house and also overlooked the creak and peaked from behind the tree, feeling somewhat relived when he spotted the headless man still standing there. It meant it wasn't about to sneak up on him at least. He grabbed an apple and quickly ran back to the stable and handed the apple to Hana before scurrying inside and double locking the doors and windows.

On his way up the stairs he traded the old rusted hoe in for on of his fathers old swords. It was one of the few thing he didn't sell years ago. It had too much significance to his father for him to just up and sell it. He reminisced for a moment on it, remembering the story behind it. 

His father said he had received the sword called a chokutō, from a high class nobleman in a county called Nihon, after saving his daughter from a giant snake. He used to tell that story all the time when he would clean it and every time Alec was mesmerized by it. Just like he was with all his story's. 

He was thrown from his thoughts of the past as he tripped on the final stair and landed with a loud thump against the hard wood floor. He looked up from the ground as his bedroom door creaked open, from the vibrations. He hoped. 

Lucky for him, his bedroom windows showed a perfect view of the creak and forest behind the house. With a sigh he heaved himself off the ground and shuffle into the room. He pulled up a chair to the window and patted the sword in his lap for reassurance. He watched the creature through the night, but it never moved. It only stood like a statue, watching him as he watched it, until his eyes were too heavy to keep open and he drifted into a fitful sleep. Sword still gripped tightly in his hand.

———————————————

Running. He was running. Why was he running? He didn't know. But he had to keep running. Running away from the black void that was chasing him. It was all around him like it had swallowed him whole. There was no light. There was nothing.   
Then there was a hand.   
He reached for it, squeezing his eyes shut, and was pulled into a warm embrace.   
When he opened his eyes he saw blue. Blue fire.   
It surrounded him in a ring.   
He looked up at the person embracing him. They wore a black vest with a red cloak pulled around their shoulders. He looked to their face but could only make out a single detail at a time. A strand of coils red hair. Soft skin the colour of bronze. Stains of  red running down their neck and shirt collar. But his mind couldn't compose a full face for them.   
They reached their other hand out and stoked his cheek softly, but then every thing began to fade back to the black void. As he faced the black, empty void again, he could feel a primal fear well up inside of him.   
That's when he saw it.   
Red. All around him was now nothing but red. It dripped from the   cavernous ceiling and down the parlour striped walls and globed onto the floor like syrup.   
He felt dizzy from all of it.   
He was alone but somehow there was a scream that was not his own that echoed through the room that's walled seemed to be closing in. And then... silence. Every thing blurred and he closed his eyes.


End file.
